Sunday, October 31, 2010

We had tons of candy corn (mainly because T kept swiping it from his Auntie C's house). So we made this fun candy corn I Spy bottle using them. We used some black marbles, orange and black spiders, a orange skeleton and a black spider and black bat. We also put in some little orange and yellow crayons we had. It was a little more challenging to find the orange and yellow items.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

We had an entire bucket of candy corn and I knew there was no way it was going to be eaten. So, I got out the glue, candy corn, some paper scraps and paper. T immediately got to work creating a "rocket". His subject of choice lately. He got super creative and added "stars" and the pom poms are his "planets". R choose not to make a piece of art and just ate the candy corn instead. To each their own! I think it came out great. If you have any left over candy corn or those little candy pumpkins you might want to try having your child make a pattern with it. You could try point up, point down patterns, or candy corn, pumpkin, candy corn pumpkin. Just a thought.....

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

This was a super fun activity for both my kids. I took out all the lipstick that I really don't like, you know the ones that look good in the store but you just never wear. I got out a small mirror so they could see what they were doing. They applied the lipstick and then we just smooched the paper. The lipstick with the wand type applicators worked better than the roll up kind. It was fun to try to get a "perfect" pair of lip prints on the paper. There was a lot of giggling when we were doing this.

Monday, October 25, 2010

After reading the book "Abiyoyo" by Pete Seeger, (I highly recommend it, you can find a Reading Rainbow version of it on You Tube) T insisted on making magic wands. A stick would have done just fine, I'm sure, but I wanted to jazz it up a little and add a little skill building too. So I took out some embroidery floss and we wound it around the sticks, finishing it with a dab of glue so it wouldn't unwind. Then we added some sequins and crystal embellishments from the sewing basket.. Voila...magic wands! T likes to use his to "disappear" our lips, eyes, legs, you name it. Makes him giggle like a 4 year old!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

These aren't exactly original but just too darn cute not to share. We know lots about spiders, like they have lots of eyes and 8 legs. So I traced the kids fingers on whatever color paper they wanted. T wanted red, R had to have purple. We added a circle for the head and then the kids glued them together however they choose. Of course, we sang the "Itsy Bitsy, Red/Purple Spider" as we worked. Now I am told, they cannot hang without a spiderweb. Sometimes, I can't keep up with these two!!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Meet our Bottle Monsters. My camera was on the charger while we made these, so I only have the "after" picture. We do lots and lots of cutting and have lots and lots of scraps. I have a habit of saving and I keep all the scraps in a bag. So, we took some empty juice bottles and started stuffing the paper in them. We used the end of a wooden spoon to mushed it in tight. Then we glued pom-pom smuzzies for hair, googly eyes, paper mouths and pipe cleaners for arms. I cut out the feet because T insisted they needed feet. I could see these as pumpkins, ghost or even bottle people. Endless ideas......

This is a great creative activity as well as having the kiddos use their small motor skills for tearing and crumbling the paper.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

I have a container full of keys from, oh who really knows. T found them and was instantly in love. It is always the oddest things that catch their interest, isn't it? I saw an activity in our future. I stuck them on our home copier and made a copy of the keys in different positions. Then set them on the table with the key container. Sure enough, T knew just what to do. Matching the keys to their picture. He played with this game for a long time, wondering aloud, did this go to the car, did this one go to playroom door? It was a big hit. Great for matching and problem solving. I think next time I will write numbers on the keys and the pictures and turn it into a number recognition game.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

One of our most favorite books is "Go Away, Big Green Monster", by Ed Emberley. Very simple wording and pictures and the reader has the power to make the monster "go away". Great for learning colors, shapes and pre-reading, not to mention, empowering too. They love to "read" it themselves.

We used it as a shape activity as well as colors for my 2 year old. I asked them what colors they wanted to use and what shapes they needed for each face part. R loves pink, so she was not having a "big, green face". Fine by me, I love when they express themselves, especially creatively.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

This was a veggie tray that I got at the grocery store. Once the veggies were gone, I noticed the cool print on the bottom of it. Thinking it would make a cool design, I took out the paint and brushes. That always brings the kids running.

We painted the bottom with blue and black paint, then pressed the paper into it.

It is always a nice surprise to see what print will appear on the paper, like magic!

We even broke out the roller to see what would happen.

. I think these would make really pretty wrapping paper. We will try it again with some different colors. What do you think?

If you don't happen to have one of these cool trays, you can always try doing reverse prints on Lego's, Bristle Blocks, tiles glued to cardboard or even a fish! When they do reverse prints, kids are learning cause and effect (painting + lifting off = printing), shape exploration and of course, creativity.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

I posted the original glue ghost the other day, which are so easy to make and lots of fun . Then I found some cheesecloth in the sewing stuff isle at the store and thought I would make these with the kids too. All you need is cheesecloth, glue, water and some bottles to make the form.

Cut the cheesecloth into squares and soak it in water/glue mixture.

Spread it out and play with the form a little bit. T doesn't like to get his hands too dirty so his was just flopped on the bottle. R, on the other hand, loves to get messy, so hers was a little bit more formed.

When the glue dries, it will be stiff and you can simply pull it off the bottle. We added goggle eyes, but you could easily draw them on too. Thread a string through the top and there you are.....floating ghost.

Friday, October 15, 2010

This morning, I introduced the kids to "Spookley" the Square Pumpkin. the book comes with a really great CD, so you can play the story while you work.

"Spookley was different. He was odd, he was rare. Spookley the pumpkin wasn't round-he was....square!"

We worked on making our own unique Spookley's while we listened to the story....again.

They glued orange craft sticks to orange paper and added some goggle eyes. T wanted to add a smile, "just like the one in the book". He wanted to make his a square and R, well, she made her own unique pumpkin.

We added pipe cleaner stems...

﻿And there they are....our very own, very cute, pumpkins.

"Maybe one day we all will discover- you can't judge a book, or a pumpkin....by it's cover.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Okay, so these aren't really done by the kids, but it is their hand print. More a craft for mom's. I do have to say, this was not my creation. I saw it on a blog that is no longer up, so I cannot give credit where credit is due. I'm sure there are other's out there as well...but...these are the ones I did. First, I traced their hands onto a small piece of muslin. Then put the embroidery ring around it. I used an embroidery needle and thread to stitch around the hand print and name. It was so easy and I just love having their little hands on the wall, as a keepsake. They really do grow so fast....this is one way to keep them small! Pin It

Since turning 4, my son is very interested in numbers and number order. So I set up this little activity for him to practice his numbers. I took 10 craft sticks and wrote a number on each one. I also drew dots on the other side of the sticks so he can self correct himself. Then he went to work, counting dots and putting the numbers in correct order, over and over again. I also wrote the numbers so that when he puts them in the correct order, the sticks would be in a color pattern. Numbers, counting and patterning....all sorts of math happening here.﻿

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I'm usually not big on projects that have an "end" product. I like for the kids to be able to create and use the materials as they wish. That said, I saw a picture of this wreath on the front of a magazine and thought it would be fun to do. I took some floral stryrofoam forms and covered them in black ribbon. Then we painted Mod Podge glue (craft glue) on to the circle and stuck on the candy corns. The kids did have fun making these and eating the candy too! We let them dry overnight and then added the tulle to hang it up. They were super easy, didn't take long and are pretty dang cute. A keeper for sure.